Tuckerman teacher terminated by school board

TUCKERMAN, AR (KAIT) - The Jackson County School Board has voted to terminate Dean Vandergriff.

The school placed Vandergriff on paid leave in October after reports of sexual assault were made against him.

According to documents released from the hearing, Vandergriff allegedly kissed a 16-year-old female student in her room on Oct. 18 while on an FFA trip in Indiana. He was the FFA sponsor and agriculture teacher on the trip.

That student then reportedly called a female chaperone on the trip to report the incident.

The documents also allege that Vandergriff held hands with and made inappropriate comments to another female student using words "such as eyes, whipping, sexy, and love," and referred to himself as "daddy" to his third-period class, allegedly touched female students repeatedly, made numerous inappropriate comments, and paid excessive attention to the student who reported later being kissed by him.

The school board agreed that Vandergriff failed to maintain a professional relationship with the female students, and his conduct reflected negatively on the integrity of the district's staff and cannot be tolerated in the teaching environment.

Since the meeting Wednesday night was a specially called school board meeting, it was public but quickly went into a closed hearing and then an executive session of the school board.

Region 8 News will have more information on the outcome of that meeting as it becomes available.